Door-controlled circuit-breaker.



H. HARRIS.

DOOR CONTROLLED CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 17. 1914.

Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. HARRIS; DOOR CONTROLLED CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 17. I914. 1,174,142, Patented Mar. 7,1916. 2SHEETSSHEET 2.

t- IF. 3 WI M W NW NW QR m wm NW 4 a 4 UNITED STATES PATENT HENRYHAIR-BIS, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

DOOR-CONTROLLED CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

Application filed December 17, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Harms, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements. in Door-ControlledCircuit-Breakers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in safety appliancesfor railway cars, the primary object of my invention being theprovision, in connection with an electrically driven railway car havingdoors which are closed when the car is running and opened only to permitpassengers to board the car or leave it, of a device or devices in thepower circuit of the car between the controllers and motors operable bythe doors to open the circuit when the doors are opened and to keep suchcircuit opened until the doors are all closed.

A still further object of my present invention consists in the provisionof a simple and eiiicient form of door operated, mechanical device ofsuch a type as to avoid arcing between the contacts upon making orbreaking of the circuit.

A still further object of my invention consists in the provision of adevice of the above described character which may be operated bypractically any type of swinging or sliding door now in use, or anystyle or type of door or doors which may be in use hereafter. And astill further object of my invention consists in constructing the devicein such a manner as to include spaced, fixed contacts mounted upon thedoor casing or at any other suitable point, and a movable bridgingcontact member operated by the door and movable into simultaneousengagement with the fixed contacts upon closing of the door and out ofengagement with such contacts upon opening of the door.

As it sometimes happens that the door mechanism of a car will becomejammed, broken or otherwise out of order, a still further object of myinvention consists in the provision of a bridging member entirelyseparate from the door which may be applied in place of the dooroperated bridging member should the door become inoperative, in orderthat the car may be driven by its own power to a suitable point forrepairs.

VVith these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fullydescribed,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 377,772.

illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointedout in the claims which ar attached to and form a part of thisapplication.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary,perspective view of theinterior of a car, showing a pair of conventional coacting doors and apair of my improved devices cooperating therewith; 2 is a fragmentaryelevational view of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is ahorizontal. sectional view taken through the devices, the doors beingshown in open position; Fig. i is a view similar to that illustrated iiiFig. 3, but showing the doors in closed position; Fig. 5 is aperspective view of the bridging member of one of my devices; Fig. 6 isa perspective view of the supplemental bridging member which is employedin case of emergency; 7 is a detail sectional view of an insulatedconnection employed.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and inclicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

As will be later more apparent, my improved device is capable of beingoperated by doors of practically any type, wheth r sliding or swinging,and I do not, therefore, wish to in any way limit myseff to its use withdoors of the type shown. In order, however, to insure a clear andaccurate understanding of invention and its operation, I haveillustrated it in connection with a door construction including doubledoors 10 and 11, each including hingedly connected sections 12 and 13.As shown, the sections 13 are connected to the sides of the door casing1e by hinges 15, while the sections 12 are connected to the sections 13by hinges 16, the free vertical edges of the door sections 12 abuttingagainst each other when the doors are closed. The door sections 12, attheir upper ends and adjacent their free edges. are provided withupwardly directed pins 17 carrying rollers 18 capable of movement in alongitudinal slot 19 formed in the lower face of the upper sill of thedoor casing.

As best illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the door 10 is of thetype in which the sections swing inwardly upon opening of the .door.while the door 11 is of the type in which the sections swing outwardly,the sections, in both cases, folding against each other in open positionof the doors. It will of course be understood that both doors may swingeither outwardly or inwardly, the showing in the present instance beingmerely to illustrate the operation of my device with swinging doors. Itwill also operate equally as well with sliding doors, but suchillustration is not deemed necessary.

Mounted at any suitable points, preferably immediately above thesections 13 of the doors 10 and 11, are the devices, each indicated as awhole by the numeral 20. Each of these devices includes a pair ofspaced, fixed contacts 21 and 22, preferably in the form of metalplates, these contacts being secured to the door casing or othersuitable support. Each of these contacts is preferably provided with aplug receiving socket 23, for a reason which will be hereinafterexplained. As best illustrated in Fig. 4: of the drawings, the currentsupplying wire 24, leading from the controller or controllers, isconnected to one of the plates 21, while the current carrying wire 25 isconnected to the other plate 21 and leads to the motor or motors of thecar. A conductor wire 26 connects the contact plate 22 of the twodevices. Each device further includes a pair of space l brackets 2'?which'are preferably mounted one adjacent each of the contact plates ofits device and in alinement with each other and with such plates. Thesebrackets are provided with alined eyes or guide openings through whichis slidably mounted a contact bar or bridge 28. This contact bar orbridge is provided with spaced contacts 29 adapted to engage one withthe contact plate 21 and the other with the contact plate 22 in oneposition of the bar 28. As best shown in Figs. 3 and 4:, these contacts29 are secured to the bar by one end and have their body portions offsetfromthe bar to insure proper engagement with the fixed contact plates,the contacts 29 being preferably formed of resilient metal in order tofurther insure suitable engagement. As a rule, one of the contacts 29 isfixed to one extremeend of the bridging bar 28, while the other is fixedto the intermediate portion of such bar. The bar 28 is provided,preferably, at a point intermediate.

its length with a downwardly depending arm 30. Inserted in one face ofthe bar 28 and connecting the contacts 29, is a metal conductor 29.

Secured to the upper inner corner of each door section 13, is a bracket31 having an upstanding pivot pin 32 adapted to pivotally receive oneend of a link 33. The opposite end of this link is pivotally connectedto, the lower end of the bracket arm 30, the link being secured againstdisengagement from the pin 32 and arm 30 by nuts 34 or other equivalentfastening devices. Bushings 34' of insulating material are preferablydisposed about the pivot pins 32 and arms '30 in order to insulate thebrackets from the connected parts. One of these bushings is shown inconnection with the pivot pin of one of the brackets in Fig. 7. Thesebrackets 31 may be of any suitable form and the pin carrying portions ofsuch brackets be ofiset beyond the hinged edge of the door section towhich it is attached, as shown at thevright of Fig. 1, if such anarrangement is necessary to insure sufficient movement of the contactbar 28. The particular point for mounting the brackets 31 must, ofcourse, be determined by the type of door with which the device isemployed and upon the amount of movement of such door.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 1 of the drawings, when the doors 10 and 11are closed, the circuit is uninterrupted from the controller to themotors, entering the contact plate 21 of one of the devices, passingthrough the current carrier embedded in that bar 28 of such device andcontact plate 22 of the same device, through the wire 26, through thecontact plate 22 of the other device, current carrier of the bar 28 ofsuch device and through the contact plate 21 thereof. As soon, however,as the door is even partially opened, the contacts 29, carried by thebridging member or contact bar 28, are moved out of engagement with thecontact plates 21 and 22 and the circuit.

opened at two different points. This circuit will, of course, remainopen until the doors are again closed. It will therefore be seen that itwill be impossible for any one to leave the car while the latter ismoving under power for the reason that the power will be automaticallycut off as soon as the doors are opened. 7 Furthermore, it will beimpossible for the operator of the car to start it until the doors areclosed and'no one will be able to board the car while it is in motion.

In case the doorbecomes jammed, broken or otherwise inoperative, it isnecessary to provide means for closing the circuit between the contactplates 21 and 22 of any or all of the devices in addition to the doorcontrolled bridging bars 28. For this reason I provide conductor cables35 of suitable length to act as bridges between the contact plates 21and 22 of a device, each cable being provided at its ends with jacks orplugs 36 which may be inserted in the sockets 23 of the contact plates.It will of course be understood that as many of these cables areprovided as there are devices, although they will never be used exceptin case of emergency.

In order to prevent any danger of accident to passengers on the car,through possibility of accidental contact with the electrically chargedportions of the devices, each device, with the exception of the lowerportion of its arm 30, is preferably inclosed in a housing and insulatedfrom the housing unless the latter be of non-conductive material. Eachhousing should, of course, be of sufiicient length to permit propersliding of the contact bar 28 and should be slotted for the passage ofthe arm 30. As these housings form no part of my invention, I have notdeemed it necessary to illustrate them.

It will of course be understood that while I have illustrated two of mydevices employed in connection with a double door, if the train isequipped with single doors, the devices may be employed with equallygood results, one device being attached to each door. It will further beunderstood that, irrespective of the number of doors in the car, eachdoor will be supplied with one or more of my devices, the numberdepending upon whether the door is of double or single type.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that I have provideda mechanical device or apparatus for automatically opening and closingeach and every or any or all electric circuit wires between thecontrollers and motors of electric railway cars or the negative wires ofthe motors. It will also be clear that the device may be installed asshown in the drawings above the doors, or, if preferred, below theplatform of the cars or any other suitable place, being always providedwith a housing of proper character, preferably of some insulativematerial.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A device of the character described including contact plates adaptedfor attachment to a door frame, a bracket adapted for attachment to adoor, guide members adapted for attachment near the contact plates, acontact member slidable in the guides and having resilient portionsengageable with the plates, and a link pivotally connecting the bracketand the contact member.

2. A device of the character described including contact plates adaptedfor attachment to a door frame, a bracket adapted for attachment to adoor, guide members adapted for attachment near the contact plates, acontact member slidable in the guides and having resilient portionsengageable with the plates, and a link pivotally connecting the bracketand the contact member, said link being insulated from the contactmember.

3. A device of the character described including contact plates adaptedfor attachment to a door frame, a bracket adapted for attachment to adoor, guide members adapted for attachment near the contact plates, acontact member slidable in the guides and having resilient portionsengageable with the plates, a link pivotally connecting the bracket andthe contact member, said contact plates being provided with jackreceiving sockets, and a cable having terminal jacks for engagement inthe sockets.

4. A device of the character described including spaced contacts adaptedfor attachment to a door frame, guide brackets also adapted forattachment to a door frame, a bridging contact member reciprocallymounted in the guide brackets, and means connected to the contact memberand adapted for operative connection with a door, said contact memberhaving resilient portions for simultaneous engagement with the contacts.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY HARRIS. [L. 8.]

Witnesses:

CLARENCE F. RowLEY, JOHN W. READY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

